I want us to consider a couple of questions. The first is: WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN? And second, WHAT IS THE CHRISTIAN LIFE? As we think on these, I’m sure that many things come to mind. However, what we want to do is take this into the scripture. We want to learn to be a kind of people that measures our thought by the scripture - in the revelation, the revealing of Jesus Christ. It’s so easy for us to measure our beliefs in accordance with whatever denomination we are of; in accordance with our family. I’ve had people tell me: ‘My mother believed it this way, or my grandmother believed it this way, or my father believed it this way.’ And in saying that, what they are saying is - so do I believe it this way.

However, a Christian is someone that IS TAUGHT OF THE SPIRIT; not necessarily taught of mother or father, or of brother and sister; but is taught of The Spirit. That’s what The Lord spoke by the prophets: that they all shall know Me, from the least unto the greatest. There shall no longer be a one such as Moses that teaches the people, for the people shall know The Lord. You can see this in the book of Hebrews. So we learn The Lord by The Spirit. And we are asking these questions: What is a Christian, and what is The Christian Life?

Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15:45-49, "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." I want us really to consider these scriptures before The Lord - not to consider them in the measure of what we may have been taught in years past, but I want us to consider them before The Lord. The first man - what is the first man? The man born of woman. If you look back into the book of Job 14:1 it says, "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not."

Now as we read this, I want us to consider this: do we believe that being a Christian, we are still considered in God’s eyes a man born of woman? How do we believe we are going to bear the image of the heavenly - that’s really what I’m trying to get to. How do we believe that? We usually think of this in some futuristic point of view, but I want us to think in the REALITY of The New Man. THE CHRISTIAN IS A NEW MAN! A New Creation, created of God, it’s recorded in Ephesians 2. You are a New Creation, created of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. That’s found in Ephesians 2:10, " For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." See, here is a New Creation. The first man is of the earth - earthy. The second man is The Lord from heaven.

Now if we could truly hear this, we are either considered to be part of the first man, or we are considered to be in the Heavenly Man. You are either in one or the other! And God sees us in one or the other. And where we were in 1 Corinthians 15, the scripture reads in verses 20-22, " But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Listen to that - in Adam, all die. So we find that in Adam, as recorded in Romans 5, all mankind is dead. What does that mean - dead? It doesn’t mean they don’t have natural life, for you can look upon the earth at mankind and you can find him to live naturally. In other words he can eat, he can drink, he can be merry, he can do all of the things according to the natural man. But he can NOT see, he can NOT know, he can NOT understand the things that be of God. In Romans 5:12-14 the scripture reads, " Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned; (For until the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come." So we find that all the natural creation was found in Adam, was found in this one man - Adam. All of the creation is found here - every man born of woman is found in this creation.

So what is the answer? See, I grew up in a certain denomination where we would read Job 14, ‘man that is born of woman’, and we would apply that to the Christian, because we would consider the Christian as just a man born of a woman. But I want us to hear The Word of God; I want us to allow The Spirit of The Lord to open up our hearts and minds, that we hear what The Spirit is saying to The Church; not what man has taught, not was man has preached, but hear what The Spirit saith to The Church.

In the book of St. John, chapter 3:1-13 it reads, "There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listest, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goest; so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven."

Now listen to what Jesus said to Nicodemus: You must be born again to see the kingdom of God. You must be born of water and Spirit to enter into the kingdom of God. See, this is an altogether different birth than being a man born of a woman that we read about in the book of Job. That said a man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. But here we have a NEW birth. That which is born of flesh is flesh. We read the same thing in 1 Corinthians 15. We have borne the image of the earthy. How we bore the image of the earthy was that we were born into the creation of the earth man; we were born of a woman, we were born under the law, we were born in sin. All of these things that applied to the natural man - when we were born as a child - applied unto us.

But see, Jesus said to Nicodemus: You must be born AGAIN to see the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 2 will tell you that the natural man cannot receive the things that be given of God. You must be born again to see the kingdom of God. That’s got to strike home sometime! In order to see that which is of God, you must be born of The Seed of God, born of The Spirit of God, born of that which God is. And then when you are born of that which God is, then you can see and enter into that which is of God. But until we are born again, we cannot see, we cannot receive, we cannot partake of it, because it is FOR A NEW CREATION; it’s a whole other creation, it’s not the same as the natural man. Christianity is not simply the natural man learning to do good things. Christianity is A New Creature, A New Man, A New Creation. Remember the first man is of the earth - earthy. The second man is The Lord from heaven! We had our passions, our desires in the earthy man. All of our natural days up until the point of our acceptance of Christ - our desires, our will, our emotions, our thought about God: everything we had was according to the natural course of the natural world. And in order to move from this world - YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN!

And now that we are born again, we are born to bear the image of the spiritual. 1 Corinthians 15 says we bore the image of the earthy. In Ephesians 5:8 it says you were darkness; now you are light. You WERE darkness: you bore the image of the earth. The earthy man is dark, he cannot see (just like Jesus told Nicodemus) - he cannot see the kingdom of God. But then the writer goes on and says but NOW are you light IN THE LORD! How did we go from darkness to light? We go there by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord! We partake of Him: when we partake of New Birth, we partake of Another Man, we partake of The Man Christ Jesus Our Lord, we partake of The Spiritual Man. And we partake of Him in the New Birth in death, burial and resurrection.

We die in HIS death, we are buried in HIS burial, and we are raised up in HIS resurrection. Here is the reality: WE die in HIS death; WE are buried in HIS burial; and WE are raised up in HIS resurrection - we bear the image of the heavenly. See, we bore the image of the earthy; now we bear all that applies to Christ! The Heavenly Man is THE LORD HIMSELF from heaven! That is The Heavenly Man. We bore the first man’s likeness; we bore his image, we bore that which was Adam, natural man. That’s what our spirit, souls, minds - all of the inner parts bore. But now IN CHRIST, we bear that of the heavens, we bear that which is of The New Man. The New Man - and The New Man is not other than The Lord: The New Man is The Lord from heaven. The first man was the natural; the second man is The Lord from heaven. And truly, most Christians only see themselves as the old man not doing what he used to do; the old man that no longer does "bad things".

But the reality of Salvation isn’t the old man at all. The reality of Salvation is The New Creation. We read it in Ephesians 2: A New Creation in Christ, created unto good works. Look at Ephesians 2:1, "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." Then 10-11, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands..." Now 13, "But NOW in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." So we find now in Christ Jesus, in those who are partaking of Him in New Birth, have partaken of His death, burial and resurrection, and are made nigh. And if you read all of Ephesians 2 it is talking about the covenants and the promises to Israel, and that now we are partakers of all that in Christ. We won’t get into all of that, but I want us to see - BUT NOW IN CHRIST JESUS... NOW! Now is NOW! When Paul wrote this about 2,000 years ago, NOW was present with him then; and when we read this today, NOW is present with us NOW. NOW IN CHRIST we bear the image of the heavenly - as we come to understand and comprehend, and see Him, we bear His image.

Look with me now in Romans 6, and this is just an introduction to some of the understanding there is in Christ. Verses 3-11, "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection; Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him; Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." See what Paul is writing. I said this before: Salvation is NOT the old man made better. Salvation is not the old man at all. It’s not the old man doing good things. See, here in Romans, the old man is crucified! And we are raised up to walk in newness of life. That’s what Nicodemus couldn’t understand when Jesus said "you must be born again to see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus says, ‘How can I be born? Can I enter the second time into my mother’s womb and be born?’ But you see, Jesus wasn’t speaking of earthly things; He was speaking of the heavenly. He told Nicodemus later: I told you earthly things and you can’t understand them, how can I tell you heavenly things and you understand them?

And you see, that’s what we do. We confuse the whole matter with NATURAL things. So we are finding out that New Life is not the natural man at all, but New Life is The Spiritual Man that we partake of in New Birth, in the death, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. We come to a New Man, a New Birth. A NEW BIRTH IS ALTOGETHER NEW! It’s not born of flesh, not born of the will of man. It tells you this in John 1:12, 13, " But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, BUT OF GOD." Born not...but born of God. In the first place we must turn our hearts to see in understanding that This New Man and This New Creation is born NOT of the will of man. He’s born not of flesh, but he is born of God. And when we turn to see that, we will begin to understand that This New Creation, This Salvation of God is not of the flesh, but it is of The Spirit. And we will begin to have fellowship in The Man that is of The Spirit, This Man Who is The Lord Himself from glory, and we’ll find our fellowship here in Christ Jesus our Lord! Finding our fellowship in The New Man!

And saints of God, that is truly, with all my heart, where we must begin to find our life. That is The Christian Life. Here is Spiritual Life. SPIRITUAL LIFE IS A MAN. Jesus said, I AM The Resurrection and The Life. See, The Life is not other than HIM: it is HIM IN HIS RESURRECTION! Glory to God! That is Spiritual Life - it’s Christ Himself in His Resurrection. He said, I am the Resurrection and the Life. So here in Christ, in The New Man, we find Life; for The Life we find is The LORD HIMSELF. So the Life that we receive is The Lord Himself. We receive that, and we are brought into a New Man.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12, but now you are the body of Christ. See, members of That New Man. I’d like for us to really get into these scriptures and study this out, and allow The Spirit of The Almighty God, allow The Spirit of The Lord Jesus Himself just to quicken it into our hearts.

"Father, we pray in the name of The Lord Jesus Christ. We come in your most glorious Name, Lord. Lord, unto the power of your resurrection. We come believing Father, that you have raised Christ from the dead, and raised us up to sit together with Him in heavenly places. Lord, we believe in The Truth that is in Christ. And Father, we come with hearts only wanting to see, and hear and know The Truth that is in Christ. In the precious Name of Jesus we pray. We pray for the eyes of our understanding to be enlightened unto the knowledge of Him. In Jesus’ Name. AMEN.

" THE NATURAL MAN"

What a wonderful thing it is to be in Christ Jesus The Lord. What a precious name! At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God The Father! Isn’t that beautiful!

In our last lesson we dealt with the natural and The Spiritual Man. We’ll look at that more closely now, and hopefully come into the understanding of The Spiritual Man. I want us to hear something in this lesson. So often Christians pray about "the will of God". And usually when they pray about the will of God, they are praying about the will of God "in their lives". And what I mean by that is, in some situation, in some event, in some circumstance that is set forth in the midst of them. And if we capture the understanding that is of The Spirit, I don’t know that this is all bad, but the way that we usually pray is we have a financial situation, a family crisis, or some other circumstance - so that we begin to say, "Father, Thy will be done." And so often the believer has MISSED God’s will. What is God’s will? What is God’s purpose? What is God’s mind?

See, most of how we relate to God is according to OUR purpose: like a new job, a new home, a new this or that. We relate that to God: and I’m not saying don’t pray about those things, but I’m saying, let us consider HIS WILL, let us consider HIS WAY. What was God’s purpose in creating man? What was God’s thinking? What is God’s thoughts? One scripture in The Old Testament that comes to mind is: "God’s ways are not our ways." And see, that is very true to the natural man. Again, we are thinking of natural and Spiritual.

But you see, now you are a New Creation, and it is said in Isaiah that we would come to the mountain of The Lord, and The Lord would teach us His ways. His ways would no longer be hidden from us; we would learn His ways. And Jesus said, "Come unto Me, all ye that are burdened and heavy laden, take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me." So we come to a day when God would teach us His ways; where we would walk in the ways of the Lord, walk in the knowledge of The Lord. As the prophet prophesied, "The knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea." And see how it’s covering the earth: it’s covering in us, in The Body of Christ, in those that have received Him, those that are born of Spirit, those that are in Spirit.

In Ephesians 1:3, I want us to consider this. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Blessed us - where has He blessed us? Blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places IN CHRIST. See, the heavenly place, the blessing, the spiritual blessings are all found in Christ. If you take away Christ, you take away the blessing, you take away the heavenly place, you take away the whole reality. A lot of times we can read this and only see that He’s blessed us; but He has blessed us IN a particular place. "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." Now we were talking about God’s will and God’s mind toward men. And here it is - chosen us IN HIM - in Christ. The choosing: God’s thought toward man is in Christ, not outside of Christ; the choosing is not outside of Christ. We read this and apply it just to us - and we find us, and we don’t find God’s choosing. We say, ‘well, God chose me.’ But see, He chose us IN a particular place, like He blessed us IN a particular place. And if you take that place away, you find no choosing. If you take Christ away, you find no choosing.

And that needs to sound through our soul, through our inner man. We need to hear that He has chosen us...yes, but He has chosen us IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD! It’s not the choosing of us, but it’s the choosing of US IN HIM; that we would come to the understanding of Him, that we would lose our life, that we would lose our way of thinking, that we would lose our minds, and find it all IN HIM! We lose "our" purpose, we lose "our" reason for existence, and we find it again in Christ. Jesus said that, "You must lose your life to find your life." So I’ll say to you: what is "your" life? Matthew 6 says the life is more than meat, more than drink. See the life...if you just take it naturally; it’s more than what we eat, it deals with the whole man - our perception, the way we think, the way we receive things, the way we react, our emotional well being. All these things deals with "life."

But Jesus said you must lose YOUR life: we must lose OUR way of thinking, we must lose OUR perception, we must lose OUR will - and find it again. And what we find, we find IN HIM - chosen us in Him. See, we lose it to ourselves: our self life, because every man born of woman has a self life... a self being. I don’t even know if you should call it "life", because the scripture in Ephesians 2 says you are dead. You are dead in trespasses and sins. Jesus said, ‘I am The Way, The Truth and The Life." "I have come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly." And people hear that scripture and a lot of times they call that "abundant life" things of the natural. They’ll say that abundant life is having a bigger car, a bigger house, or more money, or more this or that. But JESUS IS THE ABUNDANT LIFE! And He may bless us with all these necessities, He may take care of all our needs like He said he would, but we can’t confuse these things with The Life - THE LIFE IS CHRIST HIMSELF! So we must come to hear that, come to understand that, come to embrace that Life that He is! Oh, what a place, what a reality, what a thing Our Lord has done, in choosing us in Christ.

Now Ephesians 2:13, "But now IN Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." IN Christ Jesus - you that were without Christ (verse 12 says we were without Christ); you that were without Christ in trespasses and sins are now made nigh; are now brought into The Covenant of God; are now brought into relationship with God - that eternal relationship that is IN Christ Jesus. The point we need to see is : NOW - IN CHRIST, made nigh by the blood. What does the blood signify? The Cross - the death, burial and resurrection. We are made nigh, we are brought there by The Cross. We come in his death, burial and resurrection. Jesus said "I am The Way... no man comes unto The Father but by ME." See, we only come here by Him! We can’t get here but IN HIM. And oh, what a place to understand! IN CHRIST - what a glorious, glorious place! Just to think about this: IN CHRIST JESUS; finding our being, finding our life, finding everything - IN CHRIST JESUS!

In the last lesson we looked at the natural vs. The Spiritual, and we’ll look now a little more at THE NATURAL MAN. We looked at 1 Corinthians 15:45-49: The first is natural, afterward that which is spiritual. The first man Adam was made a living soul - the first man. The last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The first man was NOT spiritual; the first man is of the earth - earthy. So the living soul is of the earth - earthy. The second man is THE LORD FROM HEAVEN. As is the earthy, such are they that are earthy. As is the heavenly, such are they that are heavenly. We have borne the image of the earthy; we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. How do we bear it? We were BORN there; we were born into the natural world.

John 3:6 says that which is born of the flesh is flesh: and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. The flesh births flesh - and we bear that which we are born of. When Nicodemus came to Jesus he said, Rabbi, you must be of God for all the miracles you do. And Jesus told Nicodemus, you must be born again to see the kingdom; you must be born from above, born anew. And Nicodemus couldn’t understand it because all he understood of birth was natural. And therefore he said, can I enter the second time into my mother’s womb and be born? See, he understood the natural. Why? Because that which is born of flesh is flesh, and ONLY understands the natural. He is not spiritual: he does not understand spiritual. Jesus said to Nicodemus, No, you must be born again - born from above, born of spirit to see the kingdom of God, to enter the kingdom of God. He said you must be born of water and spirit to enter into the kingdom of God. He wasn’t talking about another birth from the mother’s womb. He was talking about SPIRITUAL BIRTH: to enter into a kingdom that is NOT a kingdom of the earth, but is a Kingdom of God, a Kingdom of Spirit, for God is a Spirit. And see, we move from the kingdom of the earth to The Kingdom of God in The New Birth.

The kingdom of the earth ...think about the animal kingdom. If a dog is born of the seed of a dog - he’s a dog, and he relates to a dog. He does not relate to a bird! In order to relate to a bird, he’d have to be born of the bird. So a dog doesn’t understand what it is to be a bird; he doesn’t understand what it is to fly up into the sky and the heights of the heavens. He doesn’t understand; he only relates to a dog. And that’s what we have in the natural man - he’s born of the natural seed, he relates to the NATURAL. He does not relate to God. You must be born again to see, to understand, to perceive, to know the things that be of God.

Turn to 1 Corinthians 2: 6-16, " Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought; But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew; for had they known it, they would not have crucified The Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth NOT the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."See, you can’t be instructed in the ways of God unless you be of the Spirit. Look in particular at verse 14: THE NATURAL MAN CAN NOT RECEIVE THE THINGS OF GOD.

See Nicodemus, you must be born of The Spirit to see the kingdom of God. I came from a concept of Christianity that "they all can know". You give somebody a Bible and they can know. But the first step in knowing things of God is: you must be born, you must be birthed of Spirit in order to see the kingdom of God. The natural man can not know unless he receives the Seed of God, which is Christ Jesus The Lord, and is birthed of That Seed, and is brought into the relationship of The Seed of God. You can NOT know...Paul says we are speaking wisdom among them that are perfect; yet not the wisdom of this world...but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew! See, the princes of this world - again we’re dealing with the natural man. It is a MYSTERY to them, it is hidden to them. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of MAN, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.

We read about those things earlier in Ephesians 1: that He hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus...as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. That’s what has not entered into the heart of man. See, Christians read this verse and they still think it hasn’t entered into the heart of Christians! It’s speaking about the natural and the spiritual. If we read all the way through 1 Corinthians 2 we can truly see that. Verse 10 says, "But God HATH revealed them unto us..." Paul said in verse 6 we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: not the wisdom of this world...the wisdom of God in a mystery - the hidden wisdom. Paul said we are speaking something that is hidden, and he quotes out of the scripture in verse 9. And I’ve heard Christians read that and say, ‘well, we haven’t seen yet, we haven’t heard yet, it’s not entered into our heart yet.’ But see - it has! IT’S CHRIST! That’s what was hidden, that’s what never entered into the heart of man. That’s what Jesus told Nicodemus: you must be born again in order to see. Then you see the realm of Spirit, you see the realm of a Man - The Heavenly Man which is Christ Jesus Our Lord!

And now we speak - not the words of man’s wisdom, but that which the Holy Ghost teaches. We are speaking of Spirit, we are speaking of a New Man, a New Creation created of God in Christ Jesus, which the natural world does not know. A natural man doesn’t know this creation; a man born only of his mother’s womb can not tell you about the glorious creation in Christ. It must be experienced. How is it experienced? It is experienced by Spirit, it is experienced by coming into the revelation, into the understanding, the unveiling of The Lord Jesus Himself!

And dear saints of God, that is the place that God has brought us in Christ Jesus. Ye that were far off are made nigh...are brought into this place. Why? That we might know the things freely given to us of God; the spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ - THAT WE MIGHT KNOW THESE THINGS. That we might know. Paul was praying in the book of Ephesians: that we might know, that we might come to understand, that we might see, that God would open up the eyes of our understanding in the knowledge of Him. That’s what must happen to us. That’s what we should pray for, that’s what we should seek after, set our hearts to - the things that be of God. "God open the eyes of my understanding in the knowledge of Jesus Christ Our Lord. Open the eyes of my heart in the reality of The New Man, in the reality of the Second Man, in the reality of The Spirit Man. Lord, I believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. I believe I’m a Christian, I believe I’ve received it, and it has brought me into that place of death, burial and resurrection with Him - as one with Him." As we read in the book of Romans 6: 3-11, we are baptized into His death, to His burial, and raised up into His resurrection. But here we are dealing with the natural man that does not know, he doesn’t understand the things that be of God.

Now Romans 8:5-12, "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh."

Listen to this. The natural mind, the carnal mind is enmity against God; it is not subject to God. It is after the things of the natural, after the things of the flesh. The natural is after the natural - do we hear that? And it CAN NOT please God. But - you are NOT in the flesh, but in the spirit, if The Spirit of Christ dwell in you! See, if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but The Spirit is life. We have been brought from the life of the body into the Life of The Spirit; we’ve been brought from the natural man into the Spiritual Man; we’ve been brought from the first man to The Second Man. We’ve been brought from the natural order, from understanding the natural things into understanding the Spiritual things. And we must come to see that we, in God’s mind, are found in Christ Jesus.

We looked in the book of Job 14:1-4: "Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower and is cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not." Man that is born of a woman is of few days. And we read this and we apply it to a Christian, but we do not see that a Christian is A New Man! We still too often preach that we are an old man, born of flesh. We have trouble seeing A New Man - born of Spirit. But The Christian is no longer in the flesh, but in The Spirit. Turn to 1 Peter 1:22, "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, NOT of corruptible seed..." That is, not a man born of a woman, corruptible seed. "... but of incorruptible seed, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." Look at that: being born again, NOT... not of the natural, not of the corruptible, not of the first. But of the incorruptible, by The Word of God!

See, we are a people: Christians are a people that are born of The Living Word of God. In John 1 it reads, "In the beginning was The Word, The Word was with God, and the Word was God...The Word was made flesh..." See, a people that is born again by Christ Jesus the Lord Himself! And this people is not just an old man born of a woman. This is A New Creature, created of God in Christ Jesus. This is The Body of The Living Christ! Our relationship is to Him - not to Adam. Jesus said if you believe in Me, you shall never die - believeth this? Do you believe this? Though you were dead, yet shall you live, and you shall never die. He was speaking of This New Man, of this relationship of believers coming into relationship with Him. "I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive." "When Christ Who is our Life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." See, we appear in this Life that He is - not in the earth life, not in the natural life.

Praise be to Jesus! For here is our Life, and in this Life we shall never die. I’m not talking about your physical body; I’m talking about The Life that He is! I’m talking about us turning our hearts from self to Him! Glory to God! Turning from self, losing our life, losing our will, and coming to His. See what a marvelous place! We’ve barely touched anything, but we have moved from the natural to the Spiritual. In the reality of Him we have moved: He has moved us, translated us from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of His Dear Son. In John 5 it says that those that believe in Him have passed from death unto LIFE! Glory, glory, glory to The Most High and Living God! Father, we believe we have passed from the first, we believe we have passed from death. We believe we have passed from Adam unto Life - which is Christ Jesus our Lord, which is A Person, which is A Man - The Lord Himself! Not being found fashioned as an old man, but being found in You Lord, in Your Glorious fashion! Amen.